Not only are some of those numbers wrong, but others are even spelled wrong lol.
1 = Ichi
2 = Ni
3 = San
4 = Yon
5 = Go
6 = Roku
7 = Nana
8 = Hachi
9 = Kyuu
10 = Juu
11 = Juuichi
12 = Juuni
13 = Juusan
etc.
20 = Nijuu
21 = Nijuuichi
etc.
There are too many "basic" words to teach but here are how to say a few things.
I am Matt.
watashi wa matto desu (matt in japanese is matto)
Watashi = I
wa = particle that indicates the subject, which is watashi in this sentence
desu = is/am. it is their "to be" verb basically.
The sentence structure is "noun wa noun desu" to say what something/someone is.
In many situations you can drop the watashi completely if the context or situation implies you are talking about youself, and just say "matto desu"
If I wanted to turn that into a question, say to ask "are you matt?" then I would say
Anata wa matto desu ka?
anata = you
wa = particle indicating subject
desu = is/am
ka = particle indicating the sentence is a question.
Say you want to ask where something is, like a telephone.
Denwa wa doko desu ka?
denwa = phone
doko = where
So by changing adding whatever you are looking for at the beginning of the sentence you can ask where many things are.
Here are a few more beginner words, although there are countless words I could list I will only list a few.
Good Morning = Ohayo
Good afternoon = Konnichiwa
Good evening = konbonwa
Good bye = sayonara
I am Sorry = Gomen Nasai
Thank you = Arigato
Also in japanese, just like with english, there are many words that have multiple meanings.
For instance the phrase "suki desu" literally means " i like it."
However it can also be used to express feelings of attraction and/or love depending on the situation.
There are many forms of speech in japanese that should be used depending on the social status of the person you are speaking to in relation to your own, depending on if they are above or below you, or equal.
There are also forms of speech that should be used only with close friends or loved ones, as it could be taken as very rude to strangers.
They also have honorific titles in their speech to different people they address. For instance matto-san, matto-kun, matto-chan, etc.
And in some cases names will be shorted in addition to these, so matto could be reduced to ma-chan by a mother or elder.
That is all I feel like saying right now lol.
Also here is their "alphabet" If you could call it that. They have 4 forms of writing, although only 3 are usually used. Kanji, which is thousands of intricate characters brought over from Chinese, Hiragana, and Katakana(only used for foreign words and in a few other situations). They also have romaji, which is just the words spelled out with roman characters (abc...z) with their syllable sounds. Their Actual alphabet in kana (hiragana/katakana) is a list of 48 syllables used in their speech. I will list them and their Hiragana/Katakana scripts, which you wont be able to read unless you can view japanese characters on your computer.
It will be in this format: Romaji / Hiragana / Katakana
a あ ア
i い イ
u う ウ
e え エ
o お オ
ka か カ
ki き キ
ku く ク
ke け ケ
ko こ コ
sa さ サ
shi し シ
su す ス
se せ セ
so そ ソ
ta た タ
chi ち チ
tsu つ ツ
te て テ
to と ト
na な ナ
ni に ニ
nu に ヌ
ne ね ネ
no の ノ
ha は ハ
hi ひ ヒ
fu ふ フ
he へ ヘ
ho ほ ホ
ma ま マ
mi み ミ
mu む ム
me め メ
mo も モ
ya や ヤ
yu ゆ ユ
yo よ ヨ
ra ら ラ
ri り リ
ru る ル
re れ レ
ro ろ ロ
wa わ ワ
wo を ヲ
n ん ン
I am not good with Kanji yet though, and most of them have several different meanings depending on how they are used.
This post was edited by XpwiLdChild on Jun 8 2007 02:39pm